Venetian blind operating mechanism



Feb. 6, ISEE L. W. TWYNER VENETIAN BLIND OPERATING MECHANISM Filed April 19, 1947 INVENTOR L TW YN E R Patented Feb. 6, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 3 Claims.

The present invention pertains to Venetian blinds and more particularly to the operating mechanism whereby such blinds can be raised and lowered and the slats thereof can be turned about their horizontal axes. Among the objects of this invention are the Aprovision of a single operating mechanism for causing all of the movements of a Venetian blind, that is, the raising and lowering'of the slats and the turning thereof about their horizontal axes; the provision of an operating mechanism for a Venetian blind in which the various movements of the blind may be eiectuated by movements of a single cord; the provision of operating mechanism for a Venetian blind which will not only cause necessari7 movements thereof but will also secure the parts against movement when such is not desired; and such further objects, advantages, and capabilities as will hereafter` appear and as are inherent in the construction disclosed herein. My invention further resides in the combination, construction, and arrangement of parts illustrated in the accompanying drawings and, while I have shown therein what is now regarded as the preferred embodiment of this invention, I desire the same to be understood as illustrative only and not to be interpreted in a limiting sense.

In the drawings annexed hereto and forming a part hereof,

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a Venetian blind mechanism, attached to the blind which is shown in broken lines;

Fig. 2 is a bottom View of the operating mechanism taken in the direction of the arrows 2--2, Fig. 1; and

Fig. 3 represents a transverse section taken substantially along the plane indicated by the line 3-3, Fig. 1.

Reference will now be made in greater detail to the annexed drawings for a more complete description of this invention. In these drawings, the header bar is indicated at I, the Slat-supporting bar at 2, and the blind Slat-supporting tapes at 3. The cord or cords for raising, lowering, and turning the slats is or are shown at li. The housing 5 is secured to the header bar I by means of screws, not shown, which extend into the bar I, going through the top part of the housing 5. Secured in a diagonal direction, across an upper edge of the housing 5, is a cord housing il through which the cord li passes. In this housing is provided an ordinary pivoted arm for holding the cord in adjusted position. This is indicated by dotted lines, and the pivot about which this arm turns is shown at l.

In the upper part of the housing I5 is or may be a pulley about which the cord 4 passes and from which it extends to the usual means above the slat openings so that the cord or cords may pass downwardly through the openings in the slats in the customaryv manner. A frame 8 is located outside of the housing 5 and has a shaft 9 at its upper end which extends through the housing and, at its outer end, is provided with suitable means IIJ which prevents it from being inadvertently removed from the housing. Secured to the second end of the shaft 9 is an inverted V-shaped member constituting part of the frame 8 and, at the lower ends of the arms of the V-shaped member is a horizontally projecting frame II, across the interior I2 of which extends a U-shaped member I3 with its laterally extending arms secured to the sides of the frame II, the function of which will be explained presently.

Two gear`sector members I 4 and I5 are pivotally connected at IG and are biased toward each other by a spring I1 secured to the inner faces thereof. The separated ends of these members I4 and I5 have gear teeth formed thereon, as shown at I8 and I9. These sector gears I8 and I9 mesh with the teeth of a gear 2l! secured to the inner end of a shaft 2l It is clear that when both gears I8 and I9 mesh with the gear 2u it will be impossible for this to turn in either direction. 'Ihe shaft 2i extends out through the wall of the housing 5 and has a channel-shaped Slat-actuating member 22 secured rigidly to the outer end thereof. It will therefore be clear that when the sector I4 is rotated about the shaft 9, the gear 20 will be rotated, and this will cause rotation of the shaft 2 I and actuating member 22.

Balls 23 are secured to opposite sides of shaft 9 and, when this shaftis rotated by swinging the frame 8 laterally, one of the balls is moved toward the hinge I6 causing the sector I5 to be swung away from the sector III, thus releasing the gear teeth I9 from the gear 29. Further rotation of shaft 9 causes sector I I to turn about the axis of that shaft, and this causes rotation of the gear 20 and the channel-shaped supporting member 22. Since this is secured to the end of the Slat-supporting bar 2, this will be caused to rotate with the result that the slats 24 will be turned about their longitudinal axes. When the frame 8 is allowed to remain in a position inclined to the right or left, the sectors I4 and I5 willI engage the gear 29 and prevent the shaft 2l and supporting member 22 from turning, thus holding the slats vertical or nearly vertical. If

it is desired to turn the slats into a horizontal position, the cord 4 is swung laterally to swing the frame 8 into a vertical position and this causes the slats to be turned into a horizontal position.

A metal knob or slider has the cord 4 adjustably mounted thereon. When the cord i is in either end of the space I2, within the frame I I, that is, when it is between one of the arms of the U-shaped member and the adjacent arm of the frame I I, above the frame, it is impossible to manipulate the blind in the usual manner for raising the same, knob 25 through the frame II, to raise the blind, it is necessary to get the cord in a Wider lpart of the space I2 so that the knob can be pulled through in the larger part of the space between the U-shaped member and the frame II.

It is of course understood that the specific description of structure set forth above may be departed from without departing from the spirit of this invention as disclosed in this specification and as deiined in the appended claims.

Having now described my invention, I claim:

l. In a Venetian blind having a header bar; a housing mounted on the header bar, a shaft pivotally mounted in the housing, a gear sector inside of said housing through which the shaft passes, a second gear sector pivotally connected to the first sector so that its teeth may approach and recede from the teeth thereof, a gear mounted between said sectors with its teeth in position to mesh with the sector teeth, a shaft supporting said gear and passing through a wall of the housing, the last mentioned shaft having an attachment external of the housing for attachment to the blind to cause turning of the slats when the gear is turned, an actuator frame depending from the housing, said frame having a shaft integral with the iirst shaft extending into the housing, a cross member iixedly connected to the rst mentioned shaft and located between the sectors to cause pivotal motion of one with relation to the other and both of them with relation to the housing, and a spring to draw one of the sectors toward the other.

2. In an actuator for a Venetian blind having slats, a Slat-supporting bar, and a header bar; a

In order to pull the metal housing for attachment to the header bar, cord guiding and holding means secured to the housing, an actuator frame having a shaft extending into the housing, said frame having an opening for reception of a Slat-raising oord which may serve to swing the frame laterally, a cord passing through said frame and slats to serve in raising, lowering, and turning the slats, a pair of pivotally connected gear sectors within the housing through which said shaft passes, and a shaft extending into the housing and having adjacent its inner end a gear meshing with one of the sectors and adapted to mesh with the other sector to hold the second shaft against rotation, said second shaft having at its end outside of the housing a connector for supporting one end of the Slat-supporting bar, said second shaft and connector cooperating with the sectors and gear in causing tilting of the supporting bar and slats.

3. Actuating means for Venetian blinds comprising cords for rapid raising and lowering of the blind slats, a header bar for supporting the blind, a housing mounted on the header bar to support the slats therefrom, the cords rising through the slats and going down through the housing, and mechanism comprising, in part, a gearing and a lever connected thereto, said mechanism being connected with the housing and turning the slats when the cords are pulled laterally, the aforesaid cords passing through said lever and causing turning of said gearing when swung laterally, and thereby causing tilting of the slats, independently of any movement of the slats in a vertical direction.

LYLE W. TWYNER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the iile of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,855,346 Forse Apr. 26, 1932 2,181,412 Wood Nov. 28, 1939 2,264,609 Ban Dec. 2, 1941 2,410,549 Olson Nov. 5, 1946 

